


Long Story

by echojulien



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Gen, Jay is crushing on Echo, Other, but I'm not sure if that counts as M/M, so I went with other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 15:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21478780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echojulien/pseuds/echojulien
Summary: After the wish reset everything, Jay and Nya tell the others what happened, and go get Echo.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Long Story

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! Before the story starts, I want you all to know that this isn't a copy. Well, it technically is, but I am the original creator of the story. It was previously posted to another account, but I deleted that account and created a new one for personal reasons. All my previous Ninjago fics will be reposted to this account.

“Nya! You need to hide too!” Jay said. When Nya looked away from him, he groaned. “Forget what I said, just take my hand!”

At this point Nya had completely turned around, and wasn’t facing any of her teammates.

“Just take his hand Nya! Or else we’re gonna...be spotted,” Cole said. He had the strangest feeling that they’d done this exact thing before.

“Nya,” Jay said as he took off his hood, “take my hand.”

Nya paused for a moment, then removed her hood and looked at Jay. Then, to everyone’s surprise, she began using Airjitzu. And instead of taking Jay’s hand, she landed next to him behind the billboard.

Her expression was serious. “I remember. I remember it all.”

Jay nodded. “I do too.”

“That was a pretty close call.”

“Yeah, sorry. But it worked! And we’re all here.” Jay glanced at Zane. “Well, not all of us.”

The remaining four Ninja shared a look. They weren’t sure what Nya and Jay were talking about, but they felt like they missed something important.

Before anything else could happen, the sound of a helicopter started to fill the air. Nya and Jay put their hoods back on, and the six Ninja tried their best to blend in with the colorful graffiti that was on the back of the billboard.

The helicopter flew into view a few moments later. It flew in a slow circle as Dareth scanned the rooftop, and then flew away when he signaled to move on.

When the coast was clear, the Ninja jumped down from the billboard ledge and removed their hoods. All at once, the others started asking questions.

“What do you remember?”

“What happened?”

“When did you learn Airjitzu?”

“Who isn’t here with us?”

Jay and Nya shared a look, then Nya spoke. “That’s...a long story. We’ll tell you on the way to the lighthouse.”

“The one my father was imprisoned in?” Zane asked. “Why would we be going there?”

“Because there’s someone you need to meet.”

*******

“...the wish managed to reverse everything, we ended up back on the rooftop, and here we are.” Jay exhaled and let his hands fall to his sides.

The bridge was silent as Zane, Kai, Cole, and Lloyd thought about what they’d been told. The story was almost unbelievable, but the feelings of déjà vu that came along with it told them otherwise.

Jay and Nya looked at each other, but didn’t say anything. They understood it was a lot to process, and didn’t want to rush any response from their teammates.

A few minutes later, and Kai was the first to speak. “You...died?”

“I...I did,” Nya said softly.

“Do you...wanna talk about it?”

“No. A brief mention is fine, but I’m not ready to go in depth with it.”

Kai nodded in understanding, then went over and hugged his sister. He felt like a failure for being the first Ninja trapped by Nadakhan, and for being unable to protect Nya. But he knew voicing his opinion of himself wouldn’t help Nya--or anyone else--feel any better, so he kept quiet about it.

The two parted a few moments later.

“So,” Lloyd began, “Echo is who we’re meeting at the lighthouse?”

Jay couldn’t help but smile. “Yep! He probably won’t remember anything either, but we can tell him.” His smile dropped and he glanced at Zane. “We know it’s sudden, and we should probably give you guys more time, but he and Gizmo have already been at the lighthouse for a long time--it’s not right to leave them trapped there.”

Zane knew that was directed more toward him than anyone else, but he couldn’t respond. The entire story was a lot to take in, but finding out about Echo took the cake.

He didn’t realize he’d been spacing out until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see that it was Cole, who was also giving him a concerned look.

“Zane? Are you okay?”

Zane looked away from Cole, only to see that the others had similar expressions.

Uncomfortable with the current attention, Zane shook off Cole’s hand and backed toward the door.

“I...I need a moment.”

He turned around and left the bridge before anyone could stop him.

After wandering aimlessly for a bit, Zane found himself in front of the door to the room he shared with the other male Ninja. Without much thought, he opened the door and went over to his bed. He sat on top of the nicely-made blankets, then laid back and stared at the underside of Kai’s bunk.

Zane tried to get his thoughts in order, but, try as he might, he couldn’t focus on one thing for more than a few seconds.

After a while with no progress, Zane sighed heavily and sat up. He sat there for a few moments, then swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. He was about to leave the room when a photo on the dresser caught his eye. He walked over to the dresser, and with a slightly trembling hand, picked up the photo.   


It was a picture of his father.

As Zane stared at the picture, his thoughts seemed to fade out. Something started to build up inside him, but he couldn’t quite place what it was.

There was a knock at the door, but Zane didn’t answer.

There was another knock, and this time the knocker spoke. "Zane?"

It was Nya.

Something snapped inside Zane, and he turned and flung the framed photo at the opposite wall.

The sound of shattering glass caused Nya to rush into the room. "Zane!"

Zane's back was to her, but she knew something was wrong. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, and his posture was more rigid than usual.

She looked toward the opposite wall, and noticed the pile of glass and wood on the floor. Then she looked back at the dresser top, and noticed the picture of Dr. Julien missing.

Nya turned back toward her friend. “Zane…”

Zane turned around, and Nya could see the anger in his eyes, and hear it in his voice when he spoke. “Why didn’t he tell me? Why did I have to hear about Echo--hear about my  _ brother _ \--from you and Jay instead of my father?”

“Well, we’re not sure if Dr. Julien thought of Echo as your brother. Like we said, when we met him, he said his name was Zane. We assumed that missing you, plus the isolation, caused Dr. Julien to make Echo in an attempt to recreate you, but due to the lack of proper materials, he wasn’t the same. And since he left Echo at the lighthouse, and never told anyone about him, it’s possible that he only saw Echo as a replacement for you, so when he saw you again--”

“He thought there was no need for Echo anymore."

There was still anger in his voice, but Nya picked up bits of sadness too. “That  _ is  _ a possibility, but we can’t say for sure. Echo can tell us about his time with your father, but Dr. Julien is the only one that can tell us how he really felt. And unfortunately, he’s gone. We most likely won’t see him again or get to ask him about Echo.”

“‘Most likely’?”

Nya shrugged. “This is Ninjago-- _ anything _ can happen.” She placed a hand on Zane’s shoulder. “Don’t dwell on your father too much. He made his choices, and is gone now. But you’re still here, you can still be a good part of Echo’s life. I know you’re gonna be a good brother, even if it’s a little rough at first.” She removed her hand. “I understand if you still need time, but like Jay said, Echo and Gizmo have been in the lighthouse for too long, and it’s not fair to leave them any longer. If you want to, you can stay in here while we get him, and we’ll keep you guys separate until you’re ready to meet him.”

While he was still a bit angry with his father, Zane had calmed down quite a bit. He smiled. “Thank you Nya. I still need some time to think about that, but in the meantime, do you think you could tell me about him? About Echo?”

Nya smiled. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll have  _ Jay _ tell you about Echo.”

Zane tilted his head questioningly. “Why Jay?”

There was a mischievous look in Nya’s eyes, and she shook her head. “Sorry, can’t tell you why. But trust me, Jay’ll be much better at telling you about Echo than I will.”

*******

Nya hummed a little as she double checked the controls and coordinates. It was quiet on the bridge, but that was to be expected with the boys away. Lloyd, Kai, and Cole had decided to go play some video games to pass the time, while Jay was--presumably--still talking to Zane about Echo.

An alarm broke the silence, and Nya looked up to see the lighthouse in the distance. She shut off the proximity alarm, and activated a ship-wide alert.

Moments later, and all the boys were on the bridge.

“What’s going on?” Lloyd asked. “Are we under attack?”

“No,” Nya said. “That was just the fastest way to get all of you in here.”

“Then what is it?” Kai asked.

“We’re close to the lighthouse.”

A silence fell over the bridge, and everyone looked at Zane. He was still a bit uncomfortable with all the attention, and was a bit nervous for what was to come, but he was overall excited. He took a breath. “Jay’s been telling me about him, but is there anything else I--or I guess we--should know about Echo before we get there?”

“Well, Jay and I didn't notice him when we got there, so he must've sensed us at some point and went into hiding. That'll most likely happen this time too."

"So do we look for him or let him come to us?" Kai asked.

“I think we should look for him,” Jay said.

“Uhh, won’t that freak him out even more?” Cole asked.

“Maybe, but we freaked him out the first time and he came out of hiding easily. As long as we aren’t too loud or threatening things should go okay. Besides, the quicker we get everything out of the way, the better.”

There was a mischievous look in Zane’s eyes. “ _ Everything _ Jay?”

A hint of pink appeared on Jay's face. "That's not--You know what I meant!"

Zane and Nya burst into laughter, while Kai, Cole, and Lloyd just looked at each other.

The proximity alarm sounded again a few moments later, and Nya and Zane stopped laughing. Once again Nya shut the alarm off, but this time, instead of activating another alert, she started the Bounty’s landing procedure.

Landing the Bounty didn’t take long, and the Ninja soon found themselves once again in front of the lighthouse’s door. Zane lifted his hand to knock, but realized it was pointless if Echo was hiding and Gizmo was on the top floor--not that the little robot could reach the handle anyway.

Instead, Zane dropped his hand to the handle and slowly pressed it down.

With the door opened, light poured into the entryway. As Zane walked in, he looked around. Almost everything looked how he remembered it, except for the boxes. Before, the boxes were somewhat scattered between the back wall and the left side of the entryway, but now, they were more neatly stacked against the back wall, and the left side was clear.

The other Ninja followed him inside, and Jay and Nya directed their attention to the left side of the entryway. Nya pulled on a seemingly normal sconce, and the door to the secret basement they’d been told about opened. “Okay. Echo should be in the room at the end of this hallway. If he’s not out in the open, he’ll probably be behind the shelves. He’ll be nervous, but it shouldn’t take much to get him to come out of hiding.”

"Yeah. We chased him through the lighthouse, and he came out of hiding as soon as Nya told him to," Jay added.

“So this should be a piece of cake,” Kai said.

“Cake sounds good,” Cole said.

The others stared at him.

"I...I meant like, as a welcoming thing for Echo."

"But we don't even know if he likes cake," Kai said.

"Does he even eat?" Lloyd asked. "We know Zane does, but he doesn't  _ have _ to. And if Echo was based on Zane..."

"Well," Nya began, "we're not sure. He didn't eat or ask for anything when we were with him. And none of his blueprints or anything else of Dr. Julien's--"

"We can figure it out later!” Jay interrupted. “Right now, we still have to find Echo and tell him everything--and  _ no _ , I don’t mean  _ everything  _ everything!”

Jay’s unexpected outburst brought a silence over the Ninja. As they stared at him, he could feel his face start to warm up in embarrassment. He was about to say something--anything--that would bring things back to normal, but before he could, a thumping sound was heard from the stairs.

Everyone turned to see Gizmo making his way down. When he came off the last stair, he paused for a moment and seemed to just stare at the group. After a few moments, he moved toward them and stopped next to Zane.

Zane smiled down at the little robot. “Hello again Gizmo. Did we bother you?”

Gizmo stared up at the Ice Ninja, then made a bit of noise in response. Zane laughed nervously. “Apologies, but I cannot understand what you’re saying.”

Despite his mood just moments ago, Jay’s eyes lit up. “Echo can understand him! Find him and we’ll have a translator!”

Gizmo’s eyes snapped toward Jay. The two stared at each other for a few tense moments, then Gizmo turned his attention back to Zane. The little robot made some more noise, then reached out and pulled on Zane’s pants before turning and heading toward the previously-hidden doorway.

“I think he wants you to follow him Zane,” Nya said.

Zane nodded and started to follow the small robot through the doorway and down the slanted hallway. The other Ninja weren’t far behind.

At the end of the hallway, the group came upon another door. Gizmo looked up at Zane, who stepped forward and opened it.

The room was small, and there was only one window. It was located on the left side of the back wall, and provided the only light in the room. Fortunately, due to the room’s size, the light was enough to see by.

There were boxes all around, most of which were closed, but some had rolled up papers sticking out of them, and Zane could see parts and tools in others. The left and back walls had gears of various sizes and blueprints hanging on them, most of which seemed to be full or partial copies of Zane’s original blueprint, while the others seemed to be based on the original, but weren’t exact. 

Along the back wall was a wooden shelving unit. There were a couple more blueprints on the front and sides of the unit, as well as some more gears. The top shelf seemed to hold spools of copper wire, while the shelf underneath was dedicated to rolls of paper--possibly even more blueprints, though Zane couldn’t be sure. There were more boxes on the bottom shelf, along with a closed toolbox.

“That’s it,” Nya said quietly from behind Zane. “Echo should be behind those shelves.”

Zane nodded, but didn’t say anything. Now that meeting Echo was so close, he was getting a bit more nervous. And with that, came the questions.  _ Will Echo like me? Will he accept me as his brother? Will I  _ be _ a good brother? How will he react to learning about everything? About Father? Will he like the others? Will the others like him? I know Jay really does, should that bother me? Am I already a bad brother for  _ not _ letting that bother me? _

Gizmo, on the other hand, didn’t have any issues. While Zane and the others were standing there, he broke away from the group and clicked over to the side of the shelving.

Zane snapped out of his thoughts when Nya tapped him on the shoulder. "Look."

He did as he was told, and saw Gizmo backing away from the shelving. Then, to everyone's surprise, Echo came out of hiding and into the light streaming in from the window.

“I am Zane, built to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

The Ice Ninja stared at the android in front of him. There were rust spots just about everywhere, and holes of various shapes and sizes allowed inner mechanisms to be seen. Jay and Nya had described the damage prior to arriving at the lighthouse, but it was worse than Zane imagined.

Before he knew what was happening, he had closed the distance between himself and his brother and pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

Zane couldn’t see it, but due to their proximity, he felt it when Echo tilted his head. “For what? We’ve never met before.”

Zane released his hold on Echo and stepped back a little. "That’s not completely true.”

“What do you mean? And why do you look like me?”

"It's a long story."

**Author's Note:**

> This was made as part of the Better Ninjago Zine.


End file.
